centum-main Mailing List for The Centum Programming Language

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New version out today.

_peter

Centum 0.1.5 is now oficially out.
_peter

I am trying to track down the bug where occasionally the Sleepy IDE wont 
register any changes in the compiled version until the old.cen file is 
deleted.  Any information on how to reproduce this bug would be appreciated.

_peter

I am in the process of uploading a new Tuples module for your 
enjoyment.  Hey mike are you going to write the docs over summer?
_peter

I am trying to upload the new tuples module, however sourceforge is 
being stupid so it may actually have files added sometime tomorrow.  
Mike are you going to do some docs over summer?
_peter

Apparently the Array Operations module has been broken for some time.  
It is now fixed and available for download.  Also you will need to 
re-compile the examples in chapter 5 if you wish to use them.

_peter

There will be no new version of Centum released this month. Don’t worry, 
work on Centum will continue, it’s just that things have been a bit 
hectic around here. There are a few additions to the GUI modules, but 
not enough to justify a new release. Also coming soon/eventually is a 
fast sprite module based on DirectX 8. Hopefully this will allow me to 
write cool little games in Centum. Something to look forward to I hope.

_peter

The Centum website now has an RSS feed if you are into that sort of thing.
_peter

One undocumented feature of the new release is that an #include 
directive without a trailing extension will have .txt added to it.  For 
example #include console is equivalent to #include console.txt.
Just a heads up

_peter

I have finished documenting how the core of Centum works.  This is 
important if you are planning on writing a module or porting Centum.  
Otherwise feel free to ignore it.  The documentation can be downloaded 
from the sourceforge project page under Other: API Documentation

_peter

I have added a new appendix (attached) on OOP programming in version 
0.1.4 of Centum (the next release).  If you need these features before 
it is released contact me for an early download.  Hopefully it will make 
it to the website soon :-).

_peter

Today I am proud to announce the release of the long delayed 0.1.3, 
mainly because I was dragging my heels.  As usual this release includes 
all the features you know and love (see past releases for details).  New 
to version 0.1.3 is an IDE for those of you who need syntax 
highlighting, spellchecking, the ability to handle multiple files, and 
integrated compiling and running of scripts.  Also new is the Java 
interface.  Because Centum does not have extensive libraries of its own 
yet we have added the ability to create and use java objects.  This 
means with a little work anything provided by the java libraries is 
yours to use in Centum (you must have java installed to use this 
feature).  Documentation on the IDE and on the java interface can be 
found in Centum/Module Documentation.

I like the design, but I think Diana is quite well designed herself!
Congratulations! (to Diana, for both reasons)

Marcelo.

-----Original Message-----
From: cen...@li...
[mailto:cen...@li...] On Behalf Of Peter
Schombert
Sent: Saturday, 19 March 2005 07:35
To: Centum Mailing List
Subject: [Centum-main] News: New Webage

*From Diana:

Oops! Wrong page*
Look! New layout, thanks to me (Diana), your new resident web designer 
for Centum.

 From Peter:
I really like our new layout.  Now I need you all to write a short 
paragraph about yourself and send a small image/logo to diana for the 
developers page (you can see a sample of one there already).  Basically 
tell the world a bit about yourself and what you do.  Advertise other 
things you do if you want and/or your own webpages.

-------------------------------------------------------
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_______________________________________________
Centum-main mailing list
Cen...@li...
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/centum-main

*From Diana:

Oops! Wrong page*
Look! New layout, thanks to me (Diana), your new resident web designer 
for Centum.

 From Peter:
I really like our new layout.  Now I need you all to write a short 
paragraph about yourself and send a small image/logo to diana for the 
developers page (you can see a sample of one there already).  Basically 
tell the world a bit about yourself and what you do.  Advertise other 
things you do if you want and/or your own webpages.

Just a few announcements for the moment. The first is the new index (see 
above) provided by mike, so that you no longer have to go hunting all 
over the manual for that one function. The second is the start of a blog 
in which I will keep track of the work I do every day (so that I don’t 
become lazy). You can see it here <a 
href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/centum/">http://www.livejournal.com/users/centum/</a>. 
The IDE should be out soon, we hope.

if you were ahead of the game and dowloaded 0.1.2 already i suggest you 
go back and download 0.1.2b, as I found a REALLY REALLY stupid error I 
made, which resulted in p_n all being considered as p_0.  DOH!  Or can 
ask for a fixed version of CentumSharedCode.dll

_peter

News Item:

Besides some new functionality, including a sort module from Mike, some 
more string functions from Ozenc, and some performance enhancements by 
yours truly, the new version of Centum is a refinement of the previous 
version.  Anything that used to work will continue to function, perhaps 
better than it did before.  Also new in version 0.1.2 is the ability to 
create simple GUIs from within Centum.  Although this feature is not yet 
documented in the manual there are a couple of examples if you wish to 
try it out for yourself.  And as always new team members are welcome to 
join, especially if they wish to help the Linux porting effort.

Do you think we could schedule a team meeting for product status along 
with on going projects
--trorabaugh

ado...@gm...

Due to my descision (well what is likely to be my descision) to leave 
the ICS department for greener pastures my psc...@ic... account 
may soon become dead.  As a result I stringly encourage you to send all 
future mail to either psc...@uc... or psc...@gm....  If you wish 
to test these addresses with a test message feel free to do so.

_peter

I have just put out a new pre-release version due to two major improvements:

The new sort module from Mike (#include sort.txt). bug him to add 
documentation to the manual if you need instructions

I have also implemented an optimization in CScope.cpp in the bytecode 
reading loop that gives greatly increased performance.  Previously in 
the windowing example on my computer there was some lag when clicking a 
radio button or check box, but this update has eliminated that.

_peter

I have just implemented a bug fix on the ThingManipulation.cpp file that 
fixes a bug with variable names beggining with pa or us.  This fix is 
not included in the newest 0.1.2 PR, so if you are having problems 
related to this I can distribute either the modifited source or dll to you.

_peter

As others have pointed out it may be a good idea to develop a plan for 
the development of Centum.  Below is a tentative plan containing some 
things that I would like to see accomplished.  I would greatly 
appreciate it if you would send ideas and goals that you would like to 
see incorporated into different parts of the plan, specifically with the 
eye to possible applications of the language.  The language has not 
targeted itself on a specific use, and it may be beneficial if we pick 
one or two programming tasks and try to create modules/language 
extensions with the eye of making the easier to accomplish. 

The next few months:

Finish the GUI module.
---
Release 0.1.2
---
Release a module that performs basically the same functions as PERL hashes
---
Release the Sort module

    By the end of 2005:

 Have a working Linux port and people to maintain it.
---
An IDE, specifically a nice one, auto completion, syntax highlighting, 
search features, ect.  The IDE should be well into development at least 
even if full features have not yet been implemented.
---
The debugger should at the very least have a frameworks set up, and 
hopefully a console implementation at this point, perhaps with the 
eventual hope of integrating it with the IDE.
---
A PERL interface (and possibly other languages as well) should be 
completed so that Centum can leverage the work that others have done in 
the past.  No point in reinventing the wheel after all.

            Farther in the future:

Develop independent projects using Centum
---
Work with other Sourceforge projects with the aim of adding scripting 
support to existing applications.
---
Create a finished language specification

If you choose to download an install the 0.1.2 PR 2 release (or later) 
and you wish to develop modules you must use the following .lib and .h 
files instead of the old ones (in fact please upgrade yourself if you 
are working on a windows module).  This change is a result of andding 
const whereever possible to aid the compiler in optimization, which 
subsequently changed the function signatures, which means old code will 
not link up properly with the new SharedCode.dll.

_peter

As you may have been able to tell by the language description Centum=20
uses automated garbage collection internally, which means that you do=20
not have to manage memory yourself, as you would in C++, through delete=20
statements. This is implemented internally with a well known scheme=20
called reference counting, in which every time an object is pointed to,=20
either by a scope, another object, ect, its reference count is=20
increased, and when a pointer to it is removed its reference count is=20
decreased. When an object=92s reference count is zero we know that there=20
are no more pointers to it in existence, and thus it can be safely=20
released. The benefits of reference counting are that it is easy to=20
implement, spreads the load of garbage collection out evenly (or more=20
evenly than other methods of garbage collection), and has a very low=20
overhead. The disadvantages are that if you have a group of two or more=20
objects that point to each other they will never be released, even=20
though there are no more external pointers to them. This is a well known=20
problem with reference counting and a number of solutions have been=20
proposed in the past. As of 0.1.2 PR 2 Centum uses a new method to solve=20
this problem, a method which I have not heard described anywhere else=20
(to the best of my knowledge, however I admit that it is possible=20
someone may have already implemented this scheme in the past unknown to=20
me). What we do now is keep a list in each object of other objects that=20
have pointers to it. We only need to keep track of these because=20
circular references are generated by structures like graphs and circular=20
lists, not by variable declarations. When the reference count of an=20
object drops to the number of pointers we have listed this means that=20
the object is being kept alive solely by other objects, and thus it is=20
possible that it could be a member of a self-referential structure. Thus=20
we follow the pointers we have listed back to their owners, and follow=20
their pointers back, ect until we find an object that has a reference=20
count greater than the number of pointers we have stored, meaning that=20
it is being referenced by a scope variable, or is otherwise accessible,=20
meaning that the object we are considering for garbage collection is not=20
a viable candidate, or we run through all possible pointers, in which=20
case we can safely collect the object. The advantages of this system are=20
that not every pointer de-reference results in a a back check, and when=20
they do they are often short. Additionally this method still spreads the=20
workload of garbage collection somewhat evenly around the program. The=20
disadvantage is that in sufficiently large self-referential structures=20
the cost is large than it might have been in some other systems. All=20
things considered I am more than happy with the performance of this=20
method, but you may have your own opinions, which I would be more than=20
happy to hear.